


Half Moon

by tolliflower



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Gore, Explicit Language, F/F, F/M, Gen, Gimme a chance ~, I promise you'll like it!, M/M, Multi, Other, Scary? lol no, Will be adding characters/relationships as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-05-02
Packaged: 2019-04-30 02:54:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14487270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tolliflower/pseuds/tolliflower
Summary: Levi spots a slow one to his right, coming toward them. It's the one making all the noise. Raising his blade, he tactically slices clean through her neck. The body drops to the ground with a thump. He turns back to the surprised man, pulls his cravat out of his back pocket and starts cleaning his blade.





	1. Many Funerals

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this back in 2016. Trying to tear myself out of this writer's block. Revamped the first chapter. The title might change, just so you know! But it is from one of my favorite songs, D (Half Moon) by Dean. I really, really hope you enjoy! More chapters coming very soon! Please PLEASE be patient!

" H e l p ! " A bloodcurdling shriek filled the dense wooded forest. Levi crouched low behind a tree, trying to hide from the source of the sound. "Someone please help me!" The voice is filled with desperation and panic. Heavy booted footsteps crunch dead leaves beneath them. He peers around the tree, keeping himself hidden. It's a tall man, probably older than Levi himself. His dark hair comes to his shoulders, greasy from being unwashed. Black slacks hug his thighs, a heavy brown coat and a blindingly white dress shirt are draped over his shoulders. Levi looks down at his river-washed t-shirt and bloodied jeans, envy rushes through his body. _"Why are his clothes so clean? How did he get them that clean?"_ His train of thought is cut off when he hears the snarls. They're loud and they sound close. Levi quietly stands up, keeping his eyes everywhere while gripping one of his machetes in his right hand so tight his knuckles turn white. The man stops and frantically turns circles, looking for safety. "God please don't let me die.." the man sobs desperately. Levi rolls his eyes, ignoring his conscience telling him to stay away from strangers and emerges from behind the tree. 

"Oi!" Levi whispers. The snarling gets closer. 

The bespectacled man gasps and runs toward Levi's voice. "Oh, thank god, can you help me? I'm looking for my wife and son, we got separated after our house was over-run last night. I don't even know if they're together." He's talking so fast in between his sobs, clutching at Levi's clothes. "Stop, you're only going to attract them to us. It's a wonder you've survived this long.. Can you describe what they look like? What they were wearing when you saw them last?" Levi never thought of himself as any noble hero or anything but he knows what it's like to get separated from loved ones, he feels sympathy for the long-haired man. 

The tall man takes a deep breath and nods. "My wife, Carla has long brown hair and brown eyes, she's around my age, and my son looks just like her. Shaggy brown hair, bright green eyes. Just a kid." The man finally looks down at Levi. His eyes red and puffy from crying. "Carla was wearing a yellow shirt and an apron last night and Eren was wearing a tan long-sleeved shirt and jeans. I didn't see where they went, I really tried to keep us all together," he starts sobbing harder. "Our land is surrounded by forest. I figured they'd stick to the clear paths, so that's what I've been following since I lost them." Levi spots a slow one to his right, coming toward them. It's the one making all the noise. He spits on the ground, pulls his right blade out and starts toward the walker. Her hair is covered in dirt and blood, and her jaw is loose and hanging by a thread of skin, wobbling back and forth every time she takes a step. She gurgles at Levi, blood seeping from her grey throat with the noises she makes. Disgusting. She sticks her bare arms out, reaching for him, begging. _Tch._ Levi feels bile rise up in his throat, making him spit again. Raising his blade, he tactically slices clean through her neck. The body drops to the ground with a thump. He turns back to the surprised man, pulls his cravat out of his back pocket and starts cleaning his blade. 

"Guessing that wasn't your wife?" 

The man shakes his head no. "What's your name?" 

This catches Levi off guard. He never thought about telling this man his name. This is the first person he's come in contact with since he lost Isabel and Farlan. He narrows his eyes. "Yours first." 

"Grisha Yeager." Grisha huffs a laugh expecting Levi to be hesitant. 

"Levi." He shouldn't let Grisha tag along with him. More people means more risk. What happens if he does find his family? Will they want to keep following him? His family could be long gone or dead. This guy could be lying, trying to steal his weapons or his canned food stash. He turns and looks at Grisha. "You got any weapons?" Grisha shrugs and pulls out a small hunting knife out from under his coat and two bullets out of the pocket of his slacks. "My pistol should be with my wife, it was fully loaded when we got separated." 

Levi looks down at the long blade still in his hand. Sheathes it in it's holster with the identical one, criss-crossing it on his back. "Well, if you're going to rob me, this is all I have plus a few cans of beets." He leans against the tree behind him. "I don't advise it though. I know my own strength and I am not afraid to fight you." He looks straight into Grisha's eyes to get his point across. "I don't want your stuff. I just want to be with my family again." He puts his hand over his heart. "You don't have to trust me but please, please help me." 

"Alright. We'll look for a few more hours and then we'll set up somewhere so you can get some sleep." Levi pushes himself off the tree and starts walking down the clear path. "Maybe start a fire. The smoke might draw your family to us or might bring us to our deaths, who knows?" Grisha walks silently beside him. 

\+ 

When the sun starts to set, Levi starts stringing fishing line to the trees all around them, tying a few cans to each line, acting like an alarm if one of the dead happens to spot them. Grisha is silent, making a fire to the right of Levi. He is pleasantly surprised when Grisha pulls a zippo lighter from his coat pocket and easily gets a small fire going. The older man sighs deeply. 

"Did you have a family when all this started?" 

"My mom lived in a trailer with my sister in Georgia. I left home years before this madness happened.. who knows if they're still alive?" Levi sits against a tree next to the fire. "We never really talked much." He looks down at his hands, fiddles with his thumbs. 

"What happened to your dad?" 

Levi narrows his eyes at the man. "Never met the guy." 

Levi keeps quiet the rest of the night. When the fire goes out he still pretends to watch it. He doesn't plan to sleep so that Grisha can. He looks tired, he looks like he's aged twenty years since they first met a few hours ago. He knows how that feels. The undying hope that your loved ones are still alive and breathing. His memory flashes to when Isabel had pink rosy cheeks and her emerald eyes would shine bright every time she smiled. How her red frizzy pig tails would bounce up and down every time she ran. 

It flashes again to a corpse. Pale and grey, blood slowly seeping out her stomach, unidentifiable organs tangled together, half eaten. Frizzy red hair dreaded together with dirt and dry blood. Dull emerald eyes glazed over, unseeing. He remembers holding her pale, cold hand so tight. Telling her how sorry he was for not protecting her. He forced himself to remember every gruesome detail of her death before burying her in a nearby field left to the run-down house they were squatting in at the time. 

He misses having her company. He misses hearing her shrill voice tell him, "you gotta be more careful, big bro!" How she could talk about anything just to fill the silence. How she would bring him little trinkets like necklaces made out of thread and bottle caps. He reaches his left hand inside his shirt to grab at the necklace tied around his neck. Who knew some black thread and a Corona beer bottle cap would mean so much to him now? 

Leaves crunching under wavering footsteps brought him out of his dark memories. He remains quiet, looking in every direction in the dark woods. Grisha is using his coat as a pillow, soft even breaths tell Levi he's dead asleep somehow. He grabs his blade that is laying on the ground beside him and keeps his breathing quiet. He sees movement in the distance in front of him and listens for the snarls. Soda cans clank together loudly on his right. A walker is pushing against the fishing line, trying its hardest to get to it's prey. Levi gets up and calmly walks over to the zombie. It growls and swats at him, making too much noise. Levi brings his blade up, punctures all the way through the neck, making the zombie go quiet. It drops to the ground when Levi pulls his blade out to the side, cutting it's head off. 

A sudden shriek from behind him makes him spin around, both blades now ready in his hands. What he sees makes him stop cold. A zombie snarls at him making blood ooze out of her mouth. Grisha is looking at Levi, screaming in agony while the walker dives into his neck for more flesh. By the time Levi thrushes one of his blades through her skull, it's too late. Grisha is taking sharp breaths, looking mortified. He starts stuttering words that Levi can't understand, so he moves closer and Grisha rests a heavy hand on his shoulder. "C-C-Carla.." He tries to take a deep breath but just ends up sucking more blood back into his throat. "Find Eren..." he chokes out before the hand slips from Levi's shoulder and it's quiet. 

Levi just stares at Grisha for what seems like an hour before taking his hunting knife and delving it into his skull, so that Grisha won't turn. He takes a deep breath and turns his head to the zombie beside him. She doesn't look like she's been dead for a long time. Her hair has sticks and leaves matting it together, and her eyes are dark and clouded over. Her clothes are torn and her apron is covered in Grisha's blood and maybe some of her own. That's when it hits him. Apron. Yellow shirt. Brown(ish) eyes. Brown hair. This is Carla. This is Grisha's wife. This was the woman he was supposed to find. His blood runs cold. 

_Where's the fucking kid?_


	2. Raising Hell

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone say hi to Eren! HI EREN!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter two is finally here! And I finally know where I'm gonna go with this fic. FINALLY MY WRITERS BLOCK SEEMS TO BE GONE! Finally. 
> 
> Also I apologize if there are any mistakes, I wrote this a 4 am. <3

Gripping the old man's silver lighter in hand, Levi trudges through dead leaves for what seems like days but if he had to guess it's been about 5 hours since Grisha spoke his last words. _Find Eren_. Levi didn't know why he was even bothering to look for the kid. He barely even know what he looks like. He flicks the zippo open but doesn't light it, saving all the butane he can. The old owner's name engraved into the small lighter. _Grisha Yeager._

Levi doesn't know why finding him is so important but being just a kid in this world must be terrifying. "Being a thirty-two in this hellish world is fucking bullshit," Levi thinks harshly. All thoughts are put to a halt when his boot suddenly catches a tree root and he falls face first with a _oof_. 

"Fucking shitbag, get out of your head and focus." 

Something glimmering in the morning sunlight catches his eye as he pushes himself off the ground. A bronze and newly fired bullet. Specifically belonging to a 9mm. His mind flashes to something Grisha rattled off to him in his panic. 

"My pistol should be with my wife, it was fully loaded when we got separated." Carla's dead, so where is the gun? 

There are about 5 shells on the ground which means the gun still has 3 bullets left. Following the tiny trail of shells through an opening in the forest trees, a one-story house is revealed to him. A few walkers are dawdling around and they immediately notice him, slowly but hungrily making their way over to him. Levi grabs both his blades and closes the distance between the two faster ones. Slicing through their necks one by one, he grimaces at the blood that stains his shirt. After killing all the stragglers that are around, he finally examines the house. This is more than likely Grisha's house that got over-run but trusting his instincts, he keeps both blades out, just in case. 

Turning the doorknob silently, he is surprised when it isn't locked. There is a long hallway leading to what looks like a kitchen. Clutching his blades tightly, he shuts the door behind him and tip toes down the hall. There are two doors on the left and one on the right, all three closed shut and silent as ever. Levi decides to check the end of the hallway first. His shoes barely make any sound as he rounds the corner. The kitchen is a mess, broken clay plates litter the floor, a wood stove settled in between counters that looks like it's been used recently. Keeping his mind focused and off the mess, Levi looks to his left, there's a neglected dining table, caked with a new layer of dust. 

Carefully going back to the hallway, he checks the two rooms on the left. They're just rooms, both with small beds, wardrobes that have been left open, and clothes strewn along the floor. "A hurried escape," Levi thinks. The other room on the right has mostly bookshelves full with worn books. A wooden desk sits in the corner but all the drawers are empty, collecting dirt and dust. A broken window shudders with the wind making the white curtains billow out. Stairs in the opposite corner of the room piques Levi's interest. There are about ten stairs leading down to a cellar, shut tight with a metal door. 

"Weird." Levi huffs. 

The wooden stairs creak under his weight. Louder than they need to be. He finally reaches the bottom and he takes in a deep breath. He grabs the handle and pushes it down, it unlatches. Letting his breath go, Levi heaves the noisy door open. It literally looks like a bunker and from what he can see, it's vacant. There is a small cot in the corner and a few cans of beans strung along the ground. He finally takes a step forward into the tiny room. 

"RRRRRRAAAAHHHHH!" The scream comes from behind the bunker door. 

A large piece of plywood strikes Levi across his right arm, nocking one of his blades out of his hand. Immediately bringing the other in front of him to defend himself, he leaps back before the attacker can hit him again. 

They both stare at each other, ready for anything. The first thing that Levi notices is it's a kid. Probably around ten or twelve. The second thing that catches his eye is the kid's angry bright emerald eyes. Short brown tangled hair and the faces of absolute determination. Tan shirt, dirty ass jeans. This is the kid. 

"Eren?" It's almost not a question. The kid tenses up at the sound of his name and it seems to only anger him more. 

"WHO ARE YOU?!" Eren's voice is strained like he's been screaming for days. 

"I met your dad. He sent me to find you, kid. A lot fucking easier than I thought it'd be, honestly." Levi lowers his blade and eyes the boy from his side of the room. "You can relax, I'm not planning anything and I don't wanna hurt you." 

"How do I know you're not lying? If you met my dad, why isn't he with you?" Eren slightly lowers his weapon, but remains defensive. Levi reaches into the pocket of his shirt and tosses the lighter across the room. The boy winces and barely catches it. The recognition is evident in his eyes. 

"Your dad isn't with me because he was too weak to defend himself, brat." 

"My dad isn't weak!" Realization takes over the boy's facial features when he registers Levi's words. Pain is an all too familiar emotion to Levi. He almost feels sympathy for the kid. "I haven't seen my dad in months.." 

"Yeah, well, I never met mine, so lucky you." Eren winces at Levi's words. He immediately regrets them. 

Levi sighs and takes a seat on the cold metal floor. "Look, sorry, I don't mean to be harsh. Guess this world has taken it toll on my humor." He takes a minute to get a good look at Eren. He does look like his mother, minus the dead part. His small face streaked with tears looks at the ground. He's skinny, even for this world. He has to be hungry. Levi takes one of his last can of beets, cuts it open with the knife he stole from Grisha, and slides it over to the crying boy. Levi vaguely remembers Grisha telling him that he'd been with Eren and Carla when they got separated. A sudden question brings Levi out of his thoughts. 

"What about my mom? A horde of dead ones flooded our house and she pushed me in the cellar and told me to stay until she came back." Levi looks up at Eren with real sympathy this time. He doesn't have to say it. He can tell the kid already knows. 

This only sounds that fill the room are Eren's silent sobs. 

The older man stares at the ceiling of the cellar, thinking about his own mom. Is she even still alive? She could be like Eren's. Dead, walking this cruel world. If that's the case, he can only hope that someone has put her out of her brain-dead misery like he did Carla. 

"I'm sorry I hit you." The words take Levi by surprise. "I was scared you were here to kill me too." 

"Too..?" Those words confuse Levi even more. 

"Uh. L-like the dead ones?" Eren seems to be searching for the right thing to say. The kid is hiding something for sure. Who isn't these days though. If they're still alive. Levi pushes himself up, walks over to the can of beets that he slid over to the kid and picks it up. Eren is crouched in the corner behind the bunker door, same place that Levi found him. He seems lost in his thoughts, he barely noticed Levi crouch beside him. The older man reaches out his hand, wanting the kid to take it. 

"You can stay in here, but your house is safe for the most part." Levi musters up the most sincere face he's capable of making. "I'm sure eating something isn't the first thing on your list but we should really get some food in you."Eren looks at Levi, emerald green eyes bore into his own gunmetal silver orbs. Levi isn't sure Eren is being so trusting but the boy takes his hand. He carefully stands and walks with Eren to the bunker door. The house is silent as ever but he is still cautious. Making their way up the stairs, Levi looks down at Eren. He isn't sure when it happened but the boy armed himself with his plywood weapon. That makes Levi grip his blade tighter, wanting to protect the kid for some reason. 

\+ That night + 

To Levi's surprise, Eren's kitchen is stocked almost full with canned goods. Most of them are out of date, but who cares anymore? Eren is sitting at the dining table, fiddling with his thumbs. Lost in his thoughts. The boy has ate all three cans of beets that Levi had. They haven't said much to each other since they left the bunker. Levi takes his caravat out of his back pocket and hesitantly wipes the dust off the table and sits across from Eren. 

"Okay, now that you've got some food, let's talk." Levi keeps his voice stern but sincere. Eren is looking at him now. "How old are you?" 

"Thirteen. I had a birthday last month." Eren's voice is monotone, lost. So Eren was just a baby when the world started to become infected. 

"Okay, second question. Do you know how to defend yourself?" 

Eren's face scrunched at this question. "Yes. It basically all I've ever been taught. Survive. No matter what." Levi believed this. He managed to almost get an upper hand on Levi in the bunker. 

"Third question." Levi brings out Grisha's knife. Eren seems to recognize it. "If I give you this, you promise you won't kill me? Or try to." The kid shakes his head no. Levi doesn't completely trust him on that, but slides the blade over to the him. Eren immediately picks it up and rolls it over in his palm a couple times. "More memories," Levi thinks. 

"Look, I'm not willing to leave a kid alone in this world." Levi starts but gets cut off by Eren almost instantly. 

"I can get by on my own just fine!" 

Levi just simply raises his hand to get the kid to shut up. "I get it." Levi fidgets with a piece of broken wood on the table. "If you don't want to tag along with me, fine. But I'd rather not live with my conscience reminding me I left a teenager here to die alone, or worse turn into one of those monsters." 

"Why do we have to leave here?" Eren's reluctance to leave his home is expected. 

"Well, brat, other than you, I'm looking for someone. That being said, I'm not saying we have to leave as soon as possible." Levi wants to teach Eren his own way of defense before venturing out into the forest where anything and everything happens. 

This was a start of something entirely foreign to Levi. Raising a kid. 

_Fucking hell._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sry my chapters are so short. Slow builds suck, I know. Chapter three will be here v soon. <3 Thanks for bein' patient.

**Author's Note:**

> If there are any mistakes, feel free to lemme know! :) More chapters soon!! If you enjoyed, check out my other work! [Drunk in Love](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1744031)


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